How do I model a case packer with the combiner object?

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Brad Champeau asked Mar 1, '17 Brad Champeau commented Jun 28, '18

How do I model a case packer with the combiner object?

I am trying to model a case packer with the combiner object. The bags of product flow single file down a conveyor. When there are three bags present at the end of the conveyor, the case packer will push these three bags into the case. It then waits for three more bags to be present at the end of the conveyor. When this happens, the three bags are pushed into the case. Now the case is full. The case packer is capable of 26 cases per minute, so I can set the processor time at 2.307 seconds per case. However, if there is a production upset where say, the first three bags get loaded into the case and there is a delay in the second set of three bags being present for the case packer to process, does the simulation keep track that the first half of the 2.307 second process time has been fulfilled?

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case packer

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Answer 1 · 2017-03-02T19:37:37Z

Regan Blackett answered Mar 2, '17

@Brad Champeau

If I'm understanding what you need correctly, I actually wouldn't use a Combiner object at all, and instead use Lists and Some Process Flow activities instead. In my attached model, I have a conveyor segment that with two decision points; the first adds the item to a List, and the second just tells the item to stop so that it doesn't dangle off the end of the conveyor.

I have an Object that I've called "CasePacker" but it's really just a location where some combining can happen and is controlled by my Process Flow activities.

So in my Process Flow, I have an event triggered source that will create a token when a pallet is created by the CaseSource object (note I'm using a pallet to represent a Case). That token then acquires the CasePacker, so only one case can be filled at a time. I move and position the pallet so it looks nice on the CasePacker and then work on getting items from the conveyor into my Pallet.

First I assign a label that acts as a counter for how many groups of 3 items get packed into the case. Then the case pulls 3 items from the list. If all 3 items aren't there yet then it waits until they are. After the pull, I move them to the pallet and do a delay time, and then Decide to pull another group of 3 from the conveyor. The Decide activity looks at my counter label and says if we haven't pulled two groups of 3 yet, go do so. If we've pulled all 6 things into the case, move the packed pallet out to the Queue, release the CasePacker and start a new Case.

two-stage-combiner.fsm

two-stage-combiner.fsm (28.9 KiB)

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Answer 2 · 2017-03-01T16:08:37Z

Sam Stubbs answered Mar 1, '17 Brad Champeau commented Jun 28, '18

If I'm understanding your question, the answer is no. The combiner will only start its 2.307 second processing when all the components are present.

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Brad Champeau commented · Mar 01, 2017 at 05:24 PM

Thanks for the clarification regarding the timer. So, if that's the case, any recommendations for modeling this situation?

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